Gilberto Powell was walking down the street. He has a colostomy bag, and the police decided it might be a gun.
During that time, the patrol officers stopped Powell because they saw a “bulge in (Powell’s) waist band,” the report said. That’s when police, “decided that a pat-down should be conducted.”So the police explain their violence by saying - We gave him multiple commands. Anything that follows is a result of him not following commands.
While attempting to pat him down, police said Powell “pushed off the vehicle and attempted to flee.”
After police gave “multiple commands to stop moving in attempt to handcuff him,” he “fell on the ground and struck his forehead,” officers wrote in the incident report.
Just to remind you of the Antonio Martinez case:
Sheriff’s spokesperson Jan Caldwell said, “It was a dark night. There was a non-compliant person that was hiding his face and hiding his hands. It’s clear in the light of day that this man had a disability, but the deputy at the time didn’t know that.”Caldwell is saying that if someone was hiding his face and hands and did NOT have a disability, it would be fine to beat them. In the Powell case, if there was a man with a bulge who didn't comply, it would be fine if he "fell on the ground."
The language of the police in explaining why someone with disabilities was hurt reveals the danger we all face thanks to the cult of compliance.